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Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist.
She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.
Angelou’s series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
Quotes
| Life loves the liver of it. |
| Whining is just unbecoming. |
| Everybody is worth everything. |
| Only equals can become friends. |
| Nothing will work unless you do. |
| I know why the caged bird sings. |
| Effective action is always unjust. |
| All great achievements require time. |
| Be a rainbow in someone else’s cloud. |
| Achievement brings its own anticlimax. |
| We are only as blind as we want to be. |
| When you get give. When you learn teach. |
| We need much less than we think we need. |
| Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. |
| I try to see every day as a celebration. |
| When you learn, teach, when you get, give. |
| The needs of society determine its ethics. |
| our belief and your work will speak for you. |
| Surviving is important. Thriving is elegant. |
| When I decided to speak, I had a lot to say. |
| The honorary duty of a human being is to love. |
| Determine to live life with flair and laughter. |
| Ask for what you want and be prepared to get it! |
| I believe that every person is born with talent. |
| A friend may be waiting behind a stranger’s face. |
| Nobody can enjoy unless we all enjoy, truly enjoy. |
| Be present in all things and thankful for all things. |
| I don’t trust anyone who doesn’t laugh. Click to tweet |
| If someone shows you who they really are, believe them. |
| I do my best because I’m counting on you counting on me. |
| We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated. |
| You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody. |
| This is a wonderful day, I have never seen this one before. |
| Everything in the universe has a rhythm, everything dances. |
| I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. |
| Love is like a virus. It can happen to anybody at any time. |
| I have respect for the past, but I’m a person of the moment. |
| When was the last time anyone told you how important you are? |
| The need for change bulldozed a road down the center of my mind. |
| The best candy shop a child can be left alone in, is the library. |
| I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. |
| There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you. |
| When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed. |
| The most called-upon prerequisite of a friend is an accessible ear. |
| Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option. |
| To those who have given up on love: I say, “Trust life a little bit”. |
| There is a very fine line between loving life and being greedy for it. |
| If one has courage, nothing can dim the light which shines from within. |
| I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself. |
| Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God. |
| I can be changed by what happens to me, but I refuse to be reduced by it. |
| Whining lets the brute know there’s a victim for him in the neighborhood. |
| If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me? |
| Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told, ‘I’m with you kid. Let’s go’. |
| She comprehended the perversity of life, that in the struggle lies the joy. |
| I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love. |
| You can’t really know where you are going until you know where you have been. |
| You listen with interest. That gives some sense of confidence to the speaker. |
| I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life”. |
| How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes! |
| I want all my senses engaged. Let me absorb the world’s variety and uniqueness. |
| Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better. |
| If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded. |
| If one is lucky, a solitary fantasy can totally transform one million realities. |
| I’ve learned that forgiving is one of the greatest gifts that I can give myself. |
| If you are always trying to be normal you will never know how amazing you can be. |
| All men are prepared to accomplish the incredible if their ideals are threatened. |
| The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise. |
| I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver. |
| We are here to love each other. That is why you are alive. That is what life is for. |
| If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. |
| Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. |
| A woman’s heart should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek Him just to find her. |
| My mother said I must always be intolerant of ignorance but understanding of illiteracy. |
| I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people. |
| You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one’s own self. |
| Bitterness is like cancer. It eats upon the host. But anger is like fire. It burns it all clean. |
| Develop enough courage so that you can stand up for yourself and then stand up for somebody else. |
| When you wish someone joy, you wish them peace, love, prosperity, happiness… all the good things. |
| I believe that the most important single thing, beyond discipline and creativity is daring to dare. |
| Music was my refuge. I could crawl into the space between the notes and curl my back to loneliness. |
| I encourage courtesy. To accept nothing less than courtesy, and to give nothing less than courtesy. |
| It’s the fire in my eyes, and the flash of my teeth, the swing in my waist, and the joy in my feet. |
| Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. |
| I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. |
| You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them. |
| The only way you can be a mark is if you want something for nothing. If you’re greedy, you’re set up. |
| The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. |
| Grace is like a lake of drinkable water right outside your door. But you stay inside and die of thirst. |
| We are not just flesh and blood. And our hungers are not going to be set aside as just flesh and blood. |
| A leader sees greatness in other people. He nor she can be much of a leader if all she sees is herself. |
| The thing to do, it seems to me, is to prepare yourself so you can be a rainbow in somebody else’s cloud. |
| Life is pure adventure, and the sooner we realize that, the quicker we will be able to treat life as art. |
| It’s very hard for adults to maintain respect and romance so that a love affair can be sustained over years. |
| When you know you are of worth — not asking it but knowing it — you walk into a room with a particular power. |
| If I’m here, I’ll be trying to be a better human being, a better writer, a better friend and a better beloved. |
| I’m here, and I do my best to be completely centered at the place I’m at, then I go forward to the next place. |
| Every day I awaken I am grateful. My intent is to be totally present in that day. And laugh as much as possible. |
| It’s very important to know the neighbor next door and the people down the street and the people in another race. |
| Self-pity in its early stages is as snug as a feather mattress. Only when it hardens does it become uncomfortable. |
